We humans possess a natural curiosity about who we are… but
we sometimes need help imagining who we can be...

This Internet site is our first web presence though we've been doing business for nearly ten years. Like the person who cuts fallen trees after a storm, we go where we are needed at critical times. But it is the barest of courtesies to our clients to be seen on-line. Thank you for dropping in to meet us. We hope that as we elaborate our web presence you'll come back to learn more about the mysteries of ethnographic field research and the insights it can bring to your business practice.

Our approach to research consulting ...

Anthropology Imagination is a research consultancy that thrives on natural human curiosity. We do field research internationally to help corporate entities understand consumers. We invite you to join us in a conversation if you have a need to understand human interactions and culture more deeply in service of consumer friendly business goals.

Thinking about people doing business ...

What is it that vexes you about why people do what
they do and how they do it? How would a better understanding usher your
corporation to engage more effectively with consumers? Indeed what is a
consumer and what is a corporation?

We call a corporate
entity any self defined group with shared interest; and we call a
consumer any individual who partakes of services or products or
relationships. It's pretty general and it's about more than just
capitalism and how to make a buck.

Here are some things you should know about us:

~~our work centers on arenas of consumption ... of energy, of food, of clothing ... the basics of survival~~our specialty is in bringing anthropology into design
and decision making that is respectful of the long view in the
environment, and in human organization~~our regular customers value our singular talent and practiced watchfulness in field research and analysis~~we
are known for our energetic reframing of issues and problems leading to
counterintutive solutions and opening doors to innovation~~we have been responsible for providing some outstanding ethnographic observations and analyses to Fortune Fifty companies, to government agencies, and to small organizations alike

Our business is nestled in the beautiful valley formed
by the Cumberland and the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, a region
known for the adventuresome and awe-inspiring Appalachian Trial, the
Tennessee Valley Authority, and the no less awe-inspiring environmental
and scientific innovations of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.